Thursday, April 15, 2010

How to Propagate Ficus Benjamina: Part 3

This is it, putting the cutting in soil. After this it's just maintenance, water, food, all that.

So here's the cutting that I took about three months ago. Good roots, it's ready to go. Just fill a starter pot ~1/3 full of soil. Put the cutting down carefully, try to get the roots as evenly spread out as possible. Now carefully cover it with more soil, water it well and put it in bright indirect sun. You won't need to water it much for the first few months (over watering leads to root rot, repeat as needed for emphasis), it takes a while to get a good root system, but keep an eye on it and don't let it dry out all the way.

And that's that. Now bear in mind, ficus benjamina doesn't grow very quickly indoors. I have a small tree that I started a couple years ago that is still only ~1 1/2 feet high, so don't expect anything too drastic. I've found they tend to grow in spurts, putting out a few new branches/leaves all at once, then going dormant for a couple weeks, then doing it again.

Here are the other ficus benjamina propagation post:

How to Propagate Ficus Benjamina: Part 1

How to Propagate Ficus Benjamina: Part 2

6 comments:

  1. Not knowing these take so long to root/grow, I was becoming impatient. Thanks for clearing that up!! I have 2 trays full, stuck in coarse sand. Hope they root as well as yours did in water. Will have to try a few more your way! Thanks for showing us!

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  2. Hi, new reader to your blog Thanks for the the great tips I have two cuttings and will follow these instructions! Hope you are willing to update in the near future...have a great week :)

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  3. Wow, very nice post! Thanks for sharing your experience!

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  4. I have put a ficus stem,with three leaves,in a jar of water and fertilizer,it has been there for two weeks,it is still very healthy,and lately I am noticing like small like spots coming out of the part of the stem that is immersed in water. Could be this is the first formation of roots?

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    1. I got the same thing.... after 5 weeks already... just white spots.

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  5. Amazing and simple to follow.How did I not find this before ? Following your guidelines...in letter n spirit. kudos

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